hey any help with this would be much appreciated, i have four pairs of show birds that i have brought within the last three months from reputable breeders but cant seem to get them to breed i have tried putting the hens in the box firstc for a few days to settle in before adding the cock, but i dont seem to have any luck what so ever, the only luck i have had is when i put one of the cocks with one of my pet types and got 5 fertile eggs which should be due any day now. im stumped so anyone who could help me maybe with ideas of any sort would be very welcome!!

First question is how old are the birds you bought? Are they too young? Are they in breeding condition? Cheers Clearwing

Why the rush to breed them? Maybe they need to settle in more? Plus all of Clearwing's question.

they are 09 birds, the breeders told me they were of breeding age, im just curious as to why they havnt bred, the hens all seem to have dark brown ceres and the cocks keep scratching there beaks on the perches im told this is a sign? there is no rush at the end of the day if they dont breed now ill just wait untill next season i just thought that if anyone had any suggestions to help that it would be awesome

I am not sure who told you what, but dark brown ceres is a sign they are past their breeding season. You want to get them down in show cages when the hens ceres are just turning a tannish colour. This is the prime time when they are in season.

thanks dave that expalins alot not all of them are dark brown a couple are just starting to go the tannish colour but i had discounted them as not being ready......im really only new to this so forgive me.

Have you read my thread about my disaster breeding season? I had loads of babies from pet types and even lesser quality show stock. Last year I sold most of them and brought much better quality birds and had DISASTROUS results attempting to breed them. Looking back I should have given them 6 months to settle, which is the very advice I would have given someone else but didn't think to take myself.

 

It has been about 6 months since I purchased them and only now are some of them going down to breed. Others are just finishing a round and the odd couple still have are not in what I would consider breeding mode or condition.

 

I think its just a timing thing, hens take a long time to settle. You shouldnt have much problem using the cock birds, but the hens - not so much so soon.

yeah i did have a quick look dean, thanks for the advice i think i will just let settle for a bit, it seems to be the best option at the moment. i really like some of the chicks you have coming through well done, all go for showing this year i take it? i probably should know this but can budgies breed all year around?

yes budgies can and will breed all year when given a suitable place to breed.

thanks nerwen and im guessing that most people wait till later on in the year because the weather is better and warmer?

New Zealand has fairly temperate weather, especially the north island. So breeding all year-round is possible, but within that you should still only breed birds when they are ready and for no more than the usual amount of rounds. It has its pros and cons. Pro's being you can rotate pairs and produce chicks throughout the year, cons being you have chicks with multi-variable ages instead of having a set breeding season and having clear age gaps between chicks who are easier to judge as far as development and sorting/culling goes.

 

If you breed year-round you have to keep clear record and sort/cull when each chick comes of age and it becomes much trickier. It works for me at the moment with less birds than other breeders who can fill their cabinets with breeding birds and still have reserves.

yeah that makes a lot of sense thanks for clearing that up for me. i currently have one hen going for a second round with another cock, what would you say would be the limit on how many rounds a hen could go?

yes most stick to only two rounds though i know a few that after judging their own birds health let them have another small round or if the pairing is good they will foster out the eggs. But to start off with staying with a max of two is best.

Most I would go would be two, especially if they are full rounds (I go max. 4 chicks) but if she only had one or two chicks in each I would possibly let her go for a third. Or foster her eggs out on the third.

Its is reasonably common to let a pair that have produced excellent offspring to lay a third round which is then fostered out before resting the pair. I wouldn't do it with a pair that haven't produced a majority of keepers as it may be more worthwhile to rest them sooner and put them with other partners in the hope of producing a better combination and better offspring and saving the extra strain.

 

On a side note, I make a point of considering just how many eggs per round are laid. If a hen lays 5-6 a round, then raising 2 rounds and laying a third equals 15-18 eggs. If you have a hen like mine that lays 9-12 per round, 2 raised rounds + 1 laid equals 27-36 eggs - a considerably larger effort. For such hens it may be unwise to let them lay past the second round before resting them.

thanks guys yeah shes sitting on 5 eggs at the moment all appear to be fertile they have sheen to them, and before that she had 5 also and she raised 3 out of the 5 successfully the first time.

I bought a pair of birds about october last year,maybe even earlier, paid a fair bit of money for them, my point is the hen has only just now browned up in the cere, she has had a bluish cere the whole time. I was actually getting worried.

I to like to let them settle in for a few months before putting them down.

yeah fair enough splat, thats about the time igot mine. my first birds igot late august were just pet types and they went down within a month of having them and being new to budgies a just assumed that the show types i brought in october would do the same, im learning now that isnt the way it works and correct me if im wrong but show types must be a little more sensitive na d not as hardy as the pet types. its okay though ill just bide my time and wait for the birds to be ready i have all the time in the world